Pratt&Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW305A engines on the Learjet 60 rank high among operators' favorite features. The turbofans are flat-rated at 4,600 pounds-thrust for takeoff up to 74F, but APR extends that thrust rating to 88F. The full-authority digital engine controls (FADECs)-a first for a Learjet-automate most functions including start, takeoff thrust setting, thrust adjustments for anti-ice bleeds and even automatic relight, should the need occur.
Bombardier and the Canadian Export Development Corporation (EDC) have joined in a new leasing venture to boost sales of the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). CRJ Capital Corporation (CRJCC) is being formed on a risk-shared basis, with Bombardier and EDC each providing equal amounts of equity. Other private-sector partners also may join in. CRJCC will then provide financing on commercial terms for the CRJ aircraft.
FAA recently proposed a TSO to require manufacturers to prove that their wind-shear alert systems will issue warnings while flaps are in motion and while aircraft are in severe turbulence. The new TSO was prompted by an accident in which an aircraft, having received no wind-shear warning, crashed after encountering wind shear while the flaps were retracting. Honeywell, the manufacturer of the wind-shear alert system aboard the aircraft, said its delayed-activation feature averts nuisance alarms (B/CA, January, page 12).
Beech donated two Starship airframes (minus engines and avionics) to NASA for studies relating to the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) program (B/CA, October 1994, page 38). The airframes, originally Starship prototypes, will first be used as a test bed for AGATE-developed technologies. Ultimately, the airframes will be destroyed in crash tests to evaluate the crashworthiness of composite structures and new occupant-protection systems. Earlier, the LearFan met the same fate in tests (B/CA, March 1993, page 30).
Beech Aircraft Corporation has long had a reputation for high-quality aircraft, but being short on the future. As former export-department employee Alex Kvassay put it in his autobiography, Alex In Wonderland, the company was known for ``50 years of quality, uninterrupted by progress.''
Photograph: On June 12, Mesa initiated scheduled service with the first of two 79-passenger Fokker 70 regional jets (in the livery of America West Express). Mesa Air Group directors have rejected a Continental Airlines offer to take over ownership of Continental Express in exchange for a 32-percent stake in the company. The transaction would have given Continental effective control of the regional airline group.
Photograph: Older converted airliners are particularly suited for flight-testing new business turbine engines. Two 30-year-old-plus, four-engine Boeing 720 airliners are still in regular service in North America, but they haven't carried revenue passengers in decades. These two veterans, instead, are stuffed with test equipment and telemetering avionics. They are configured to fly with a fifth engine bolted onto a specially reinforced fuselage section just aft of the cockpit.
Italy's Agusta Group introduced a single-engine helicopter at the Paris Air Show in June. The prototype of the eight-seat, skid-gear A119 Koala is powered by Turbomeca, but Agusta is considering offering the Allison 250-C40. Certification of the A119 is scheduled for late this year. Agusta also unveiled another version of its twin-turbine A109 series. The new A109 (dubbed ``Power'') is equipped with two 639-shp PW206C turbines, putting the aircraft midway between the A109C with 450-shp Allisons and the A109K2 with 771-shp Allisons.
The news from Cessna at Paris is an internal training program aimed at making Citation Service Center employees more responsive to customer expectations in such areas as ``on-time delivery, fair treatment, fast response, no surprises and getting work done right the first time.'' The ``Sensible Service People'' program includes sending out an evaluation form with each invoice inviting customers to provide Cessna with comments on the quality of the service.
From the FAA's Aircraft Certification Service offices near Seattle, the 16-g seat controversy looks a little different than it does from industry's perspective. Led by Ronald Wojner, the organization views itself as a catalyst for safety. ``Our role is to be the spark plug for pushing incorporation of higher standards of safety,'' Wojner said in an interview with B/CA.
User charges in Europe are threatening regional air services, according to a comprehensive study recently completed by the European Regional Airline Association (ERA).
Consumer concern over commuter safety is waning, East Coast fares are rising and investors are betting on improved earnings for publicly held regional airlines in the June quarter.
Bombardier became the first aircraft manufacturer to directly involve itself in shared ownership when it launched a joint venture earlier this year with AMR Combs (B/CA, June, page 26). Called Business JetSolutions, the new company initially will offer shared ownership of Learjet 31As, Learjet 60s and Canadair Challengers through a program called FlexJet. Eventually, the program will be expanded to include the new Bombardier Global Express and, possibly, corporate versions of the Canadair Regional Jet.
Photograph: A corporate jet taxis across the Snowfree-heated dry and clear patch of taxiway Mike-5 this past winter. The condition of the tested taxiway looked like this throughout the 1994-1995 winter. The latest technology for removing snow and ice from runways and taxiways is, literally, hot news. An electric pavement-heating system called Snowfree is now being tested on a patch of taxiway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
ICAO and the FAA have scheduled a seminar August 28-29 in Washington, D.C. to discuss changes in operational requirements that will occur due to implementation of 1,000-foot vertical separation minimums between FL 290 and FL 410 in the North Atlantic Track Region. Those minimums are scheduled to be in effect by January 1, 1997 (B/CA, June, page 43). For details of the seminar program, contact the FAA's Carl Bowlin in Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 233-5172.
Let me assure you and your readers that a coalition of U.S. aviation organizations heartily supports the effort to achieve harmonization of standards and practices between the FAA and the 23 nations of the European Joint Aviation Authorities [JAA]. We intend to go at this tooth and nail.''
The first supplemental type certification (STC) for installation of a head-up display in a business jet was issued by the FAA in May to Elliott Aviation of Moline, Illinois. The STC applies to the installation of a Flight Visions FV-2000 Advanced HUD in a Cessna Citation II operated by Deere&Company. The system consists of a glareshield-mounted optical projection unit, a HUD computer and a control-display unit (CDU). Elliott says the installed price of the FV-2000 Advanced HUD on a Citation is about $100,000.
Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation of Harbin, China received FAA certification for its 19-seat, turboprop-powered Y-12, thus paving the way for sales to U.S. regionals. The STOL aircraft, powered by two P&WC PT6A-27s, was certified in China in December 1985 and in the United Kingdom in June 1990. The U.S. certification process took more than three years, and includes production of Chinese-made aircraft tires that can be sold in the United States.
The former Mather Air Force Base, 12 miles from downtown Sacramento, is now Sacramento Mather Airport, and Trajen Flight Support is the former military airfield's first and only FBO. Trajen now offers full line service and hangar parking. There are no noise restrictions or airline traffic. The airport, with an 11,300-foot runway and IFR approaches, also is home for an 18-hole golf course. In the near future, Trajen plans to introduce maintenance.
Jetphone, a cellular air-to-ground telephone network destined to serve all of Europe, was scheduled to begin operation in June. Jetphone is the product of a joint venture between the United Kingdom's BT (formerly British Telecom) and FCR (a subsidiary of France Telecom). Initially, the network is to be made up of 15 ground stations, but will eventually comprise more than 40 stations, each with a 160-nm range. Jetphone officials say the network will cover all of western Europe by the end of 1996. For details, phone +(44) 171 379 34 04.
AlliedSignal has introduced a handheld GPS and VHF communications transceiver-all in one. The Bendix/King KLX 100 combines an eight-channel GPS receiver and a 760-channel comm in a single case. Features of the KLX 100's GPS section include moving-map graphics, an LCD dot-matrix display, the ability to store up to 500 user-defined waypoints and separate North American or international Jeppesen databases. The ``S.O.S. Beacon'' feature can transmit a digitized voice, giving latitude, longitude and other aircraft information.
Dassault Aviation says the newly certified Falcon 2000 business jet exceeds original performance goals in several parameters. Claimed gains (shown in parentheses) are: range-3,030 nm (+100 nm); time to FL 410-23.9 minutes (-4.5 minutes); landing-2,500 feet (-55 feet); Vref-108 KIAS (-3 knots); BFL SL-ISA-5,440 feet (-140 feet); BFL ISA+15-5,665 feet (-150 feet). Standard equipment on the Falcon 2000 now includes thrust reversers, second FMS (with GPS), two laser inertial reference systems, a second HF transceiver and a GPWS.
Learjet 60 operators, at times, sound as though they are paid sales staff. They crow about the aircraft climbing directly to FL 410 in 11 to 14 minutes. They say it rivals the Learjet 35 for direct operating cost. They claim it offers more cabin comfort than any previous Learjet they have operated.
The side-facing bench seat, or divan, may well become one of the most visible casualties of the FAA's 16-g seat rule. Aircraft and seat manufacturers alike say it is very difficult to certify benches for use in takeoff and landing, given the constraints of the rules. ``Unless the FAA modifies its position, basically, you won't see side-facing divans,'' says Roger Koch, president of Aircraft Modular Products, a Miami company that produces seats for several business aircraft manufacturers, including Cessna and Dassault.
Engine-related dispatch reliability for the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) is 99.98 percent, GE Aircraft Engines reported recently, and it has a zero engine-caused, inflight shutdown rate. The high-time engine has logged 6,150 flight hours and 5,015 cycles. ``We conducted an analytical inspection of a 5,500-hour engine [in April], and the condition was excellent,'' said Lloyd Thompson, general manager of the Small Commercial Turbofan Department. ``The engine components could actually have continued in service for 8,000 to 10,000 hours.''
